No. 8 Maryland Loses Heartbreaker To No. 22 South Carolina

College Park, Md. -
South Carolina's Anthony Vitagliano (Scotsdale, Ariz.) won the battle of the brothers when his header in the 89th minute elevated the No. 22 Gamecocks (3-1) over the No. 8 Maryland Terrapins (2-2) and brother Bryan Vitagliano (Scotsdale, Ariz.). The younger Vitagliano earned all-tournament recognition for his performance for Maryland along with junior Nick Downing (Redmond, Wash.).

Despite several exciting opportunities for the Maryland offense, South Carolina goalie and FILA Classic Defensive MVP Henry Ring (Franklin, Tenn.) stopped 10 Terrapin shots to put the Gamecocks in position to pull their second upset in two days. It was Anthony Vitagliano who put a head on a the ball from the left side and got one past Maryland keeper Christian Lewis (Ellicott City, Md.) at the 88:49 mark for the game-winner for South Carolina. Chris Herron (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and Jon Rich (Phoenix, Ariz.) were each credited with assists on the play.

Maryland had one more chance to score, but Ring was able to stop junior Tyler Pharr's (Dallas, Texas) shot cold to solidify the win. On the first day of Maryland/FILA Classic action, the Gamecocks upset Virginia 2-1. The Sunday win over Maryland made South Carolina 2-0 for the weekend, good enough for second in the FILA Tournament behind Indiana who was also 2-0, but won the tournament after scoring more goalies over the two day tournament.

The Terrapins come back to Ludwig Field on Wednesday, Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. against UMBC. Maryland then travels to NC State this weekend for a Sunday match-up with the Wolfpack. That game starts at 2 p.m. South Carolina travels to Charleston on Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. for its next game.